Another Day, Another Campus Shooting

This tragedy occurred in Flagstaff, AZ. Will Texas become one of the statistics?

For years, TACT shared statistics with legislators that college campuses were comparatively safe locations; it would be difficult to assume that the next set of data will say the same thing. And yet, public policy continues to encourage more legal locations for firearms with the argument that the good guys will gun down the bad guys before the bad guys kill more good guys. Where’s THAT data?

Making the news rounds this week is UT-Austin Professor Daniel Hamermesh announcing that he will retire rather than continue teaching classrooms with more than 400 students who he cannot possibly know. He differentiates that he may feel differently if his classes were small. As TACT has promoted public policy involvement by faculty members for nearly 70 years, it is discouraging to hear college teachers say that if they really thought the Legislature would pass a guns on campus law, they would have attended the hearings at the Capitol last winter.

Yesterday, Lt. Governor Patrick released the first batch of his Interim Charges – the issues he wants Senate committees to study and consider any recommendations before the next Legislature convenes in January 2017. The very first of all of his issues is the following:

Implementation of open and campus carry legislation and determine if the current laws regulating the places that handguns can be carried are easily understood or if clarification is needed to ensure the average citizen understands when, where, and under what circumstances it is lawful to carry a weapon, versus when it is a criminal offense for which there may be a defense;

Your dedicated TACT volunteer leaders and staff will continue to share with lawmakers our positions regarding your safety, beginning with legislative office visits scheduled for October 16. You and your colleagues should be part of those communications. To learn more about what TACT is doing about this issue and to join the cause in finding a solution, please see www.tact.org